The future of the AGM is now here in Africa! C&R Group is pleased to have delivered the 1st Hybrid AGM for a Public Listed Company in Africa.
For over 15 years, I had never attended an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the public listed companies in which I own shares unless it was for work reasons. This is because the nature of the event is so out of sync with my current reality. This view was further reinforced when I finally attended and over 90% of the people in attendance were not from my demographic and most of those that were, like me, were on duty hosting or working at the event as they worked for or were on the boards of these companies.
So where were my peers? I wondered! I soon came to the realization that my peers faced the same dilemma as I. The nature of the AGM was out of sync with our reality and I dare say with where the world is.
We live in a world of technology, convenience and options were we interact with no concept of distance and restriction, with virtually everything at our fingertips. However, the AGM seems to have been stuck in a time-warp which requires one to physically travel to a central location and interact face to face with the board of directors in a very structured manner with no alternatives other than to send a proxy to do the same. It has therefore become largely a socializing opportunity for one demographic and where the key agenda often doesn’t get the prominence it deserves and company directors do not get the full benefit engaging with most of their shareholders.
The AGM should be a channel for shareholders to interact with their directors and management in a productive way and share constructive market and management feedback, concerns and ideas. To optimize engagement at the event, companies need to broaden the channels of engagement and provide alternatives that avail convenience to the shareholders and enable them to participate with ease based on their circumstances.
In Kenya and most of Africa, the nature of AGMs has been driven by social culture but the true limits are only limited by how these are defined in the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association and in some jurisdictions (not Kenya) some element of regulation.
Globally, we are seeing trends where technology is transforming the way AGMs are being carried out and making them virtual. Many companies have adopted online streaming of the event as well as electronic/mobile polling. These companies are using platforms that enable people to attend in a structured way to ensure they are still able to track who is attending and track the polling and the source of queries and input into discussions. Many companies have taken the Hybrid AGM option, still avail the option of physical attendance together with the virtual option. In 2017, 250 public listed companies in the United States of America held Virtual & Hybrid meetings while only two years before only 19 companies had availed these options which speaks to the pace of adoption. This has also picked up in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
On 30th of May, 2019 Stanbic Bank Holdings Limited, Uganda held their Annual General Meeting at Kampala Serena Hotel. While for many who attended the meeting at the said venue, the meeting may have seemed like just any other prior AGM, for some of the shareholders, it was a very different experience. This is because they were able to attend online from the location of their choosing and still participate fully in the proceedings of the AGM. While virtual attendance of meetings in not new and many may not have noted the significance and novelty of the meeting, but they were making History as this was the first Hybrid AGM on the continent of Africa!
Stanbic Bank Limited, Uganda partnered with C&R Group using the ShareHubTM portal (www.sharehub.co.ke) to make this possible for shareholders. This proprietary portal enables on-line management of AGMs to give the shareholders, among other services, the full array of opportunities on-line as those who are physically in attendance. All a shareholder needs to do is register on ShareHubTM, indicate the listed companies that they hold shares in and the system confirms the nature of their shareholding.
Therefore once a company avails the option to shareholders, they just need to log-in and register to attend the AGM on-line. Once, published, they will be able to download the notice convening the AGM as well as a soft copy of the annual report in advance to enable preparation for the AGM and have the opportunity to start logging their questions in advance. Once the AGM commences, they will be able to watch a live-stream of the AGM proceedings and still get to lodge live questions. They are also able to vote on various agenda items through the polling facility on the ShareHubTM system. The Company Secretary is able to see in real-time these questions on the on-line dashboard and advise the Chairman on the questions being fielded online and the votes being cast online in line with the resolutions. This enabled the Chairman manage the meeting as efficiently as any other before while getting an array of questions from people that would not have had the opportunity to engage in the process where it not for ShareHubTM.
We owe our special gratitude to Mr. Japheth Kato, The Board Chairman, Mr. Patrick Mweheire, the Chief Executive and Ms. Rita Kabatunzi, Ag. Company Secretary together with the board and management of Stanbic Bank Holdings Limited for agreeing to take this journey with us.
Virtual/Hybrid AGMs provide greater accessibility by opening up the AGM to a larger and remote shareholder audience. It also enables shareholders, such as institutional investors, who have large holdings but limited time to attend the AGM. It also increases the quality, depth and balance of discussion and debate by allowing a larger demographic to participate. There are also potential cost savings on both the part of the shareholder and the company. The electronic polling also enables quicker, more efficient and possibly accuracy in the tallying of votes. Additionally, if properly managed, this could be a major source of ideas on strategy from the shareholder base. It also naturally enables better communication between the shareholders and the company.
To get more information on ShareHubTM visit www.sharehub.co.ke or watch an info video on YouTube.
Paul Kihiu – Business Development Director
